WhatsApp for Windows Phone gets major new update, loads of new features

Now that Kik is on the sidelines for Windows Phone, WhatsApp has become our default international messaging app on Windows Phone. Luckily for us the WhatsApp team is busy updating and adding new functions to the app, evidently back on their 30-day schedule.

Version 2.9.2 is now live in the Store and it’s the one update you’ve been waiting for, as it really brings this app into its own.

Overall, it’s an impressive update. The lock screen notifications go a long way to improving the app’s usability on Windows Phone 8 and the message backup feature and new layout should also please long time users looking for a more robust experience.

Notifications have been more consistent for us than on Kik and hopefully that will continue with this app update.

Did we miss any new features? Let us know in comments. You can download WhatsApp for free here in the Store. All Windows Phones supported. Thanks, Dennis and others for the tip!

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Btw, there is still no way u can attach any music or video from ur library on the phone. U can only record a new 1 and send them.. A required feature as other platforms including Symbian as well has it...

Better than before but i stil am not liking it at all. The screen when messagiong someone is way too small to follow the conversation properly. I have to exit the key board on my 920 to see the convo and then reply.
Also we cannot call the contact directly from the app.
Maybe i am expecting too muych cominnng from my galaxy s3....??? That should not be the case though,.

Major drawback of whatsapp for windows is that you can't send Audio file(song etc) or video to your friends as attachment. When you try to attach Audio , it starts Sound recorder and when you try to attach Video file, it starts Camera. So without that it is useless. I 've sent email to Whatsapp team but no answer. Any body here facing same problem ???

Facing same annoying challenge. I just also discovered that I cannot save a song that a friend sent to me on whatsapp. I have tried searching for the song on the phone by connecting it to a pc without any success. I can only access the song when I go to the profile of the person that sent the song to me, but there are no options to save/share the song. Frustrated..

Just as crappy as before. Can't believe MS is still letting them get away with the hack of using the music player API to keep WiFi alive, thereby killing battery. And it crashes when trying to add a picture. What a joke.

hahaha ... thank god i am content without whatsapp :D
still i was good to know about this update , but then i saw so many problems beings mentioned ...
come on whatsapp Devs we WP users want a fair treatment :X

Ok something is really weird... i can check that the version is 2.9.2 the tile has changed and everything but still no lockscreen notification! is there a reason? i tried uninstaling the app and install again... no change! it's not even asking for verification anymore!!! any comment?

after I start the app, whenever i use the volume keys there is a music control that shows up. its really annoying because whenever I have music playing, that is replaced by the whatsapp music control!! this has been an issue since the app came out. When can this be fixed? any ideas??

After using this yesterday, I had so much hope, but it continues to use the media stream API & continues to use a significant amount of battery. Windows Phone 8 introduced instant resume, WHY aren't they utilizing that instead? Its so frustrating, especially in an otherwise spectacular app

As it is, the Audio api is sucking the power out of the batteries, they still have not disabled the vibration notification when a new msg arrives, which actually surpases the setting of vibration being disabled in the profile settings.
What was the windows phone development team @ whatsapp was smoking when they decided how to torture the windows phone users?

Thats crazy, this is horribly slow now. I open it up, leave the phone aside and start working on a document on the pc and then it opens up the app!! It frustrates the shit out of me. Many a times I have to just keep pressing back and load it up again :(

I like the new update... however, 3 things that need to improve:
1) It takes much longer to load than the previous version..
2) Add a voice-to-text feature so we can speak out messages
3) I love the Share Location feature, I like to think of it as a game to find interesting/funny locations as I am in different places. However, the Share Location feature only shows you a certain # of locations around you (like 15-20), it doesn't show more than that. The iOS version, however, shows you what looks like an infinite number of locations.

I've learned that Whatsapp on WP is only stable after every two releases. Or so it has been for about the last six updates. The good thing is, they usually bring out an update soon after to fix the crashes or whatever unstable behaviour the 'big' updates bring in. So I guess I shall wait to see if a new update comes out soon, to sort out the complaints of bugs.

I have a question, I've updated the "Whatsapp" to the latest version, but the tile. still look the same, do not know where the most metro, and in the imagin is that you can use a long tile, is for WP 8?, mine is WP 7.8 and can not.

This was not a good update!
If i start to watch a videoclip i received earlier, the whole app hangs and i have to restart the phone! It has also crashed several times when i just scroll through the menus, og or if i enter the settings and try to go back again!
Didn't anyone test this properly before the launched the update!!????

New broadcast is when you type a message and it sends it to everyone on your whatsapp list, new group is when you pick who you want to make a conversation with, so for example in a group could be you, your mum and your dad, or you, your friend #1 and friend #2.

Whatsapp has great name recognition, but that's where it ends on WP8. The new update helps but it still lags behind some less well know apps. If you need a solid messaging app try Line. More features, abilities to customize, and a very solid performer. Not perfect, but the best overall offering on WP8.

It may be a major update but its still not on par with the iOS and android versions , its annoying that they can send pre recorded video and save video thats recieved to the camera roll and windows phone users can't

Yeah, I never had a problem with the battery before but I've not really used my phone today & it's lasted about 6 hours, I usually get at least 17 hours out of this phone (HTC 8X) with moderate usage =/

The biggest problem I've had with whatsapp is when I want to add new people or people that I have on my phone but doesn't appear on the whatsapp list. Anyone knows if this has been fixed in the update?

I found it even worse than previous version despite it supports lockscreen notification and faster in process. It crashs all time and long loading time. Anyone same? I wanna downgrade to previous version now......Shit update

Yikes, maybe I should hold off updating. Someone else mentioned uninstalling and reinstalling does not help but rebooting solved it. Not sure if it will help but just wondering if you have given that a shot?

They didn't fix white background issue either! The chat bubble goes away when background is white. I emailed them 3 times about this over last 6 months, everytime being told "our devs are aware about this and we will fix it soon" - but nope, they just won't do it! Thank goodness it's not a paid app!

Battery Draining is windows 8 problem, though the new update is for windows 7x users as well and we get all the updates mentioned in the article above. I didnt check on the windows 8 though. but its still missing sending of MP3 files, videos from collection and some minor smileys (which i dont care about) but the audio and video sharing is really needed. specially HTC didnt support its windows 7x users with bluetooth share >.>

I'm not sure if I received the same update as the rest of you... Its 2.9.2 but the tile is stil the old ugly looking one (icon in a tile). However its incredibly fast. The app is now just as fast as the default messaging app, its unbelievable. With these speeds it doesnt need a fast response.
I'm on WP7 btw.

My friends and I have all switched over to WeChat and have had very good luck with it so far on iPhone,Android and Windows Phone 8. Coming from kik, I'm actually seeing better battery life too. So there is another alternative if you have friends who will help you test out before a bug switch.

Just went over privacy policy and the way I took it they still look at all contacts and have no control over 3d party doing as they wish with your info. On Android & iOS you pick contacts and that's all the app can see. Anyways did anyone else read the privacy policy and did you take it same or different?

This one should be rewarded the most pathetic app on WP8 store. Instead of using background tasks, these hafl trained guys are using music service from WP to keep it running in the background. Even Symbian client is better than this. Another feature that I'd need now is the cloud backup of conversations. It'd come handy while switching between the platforms. But instead they implemented local backup.Great.

Whatsapp worked great as long as I've used it. Now, I am mostly a Viber user and have used it for voice calls and text messages. However, my 920 is missing that. Viber Messenger is only available as of now and it's unfortunate that voice calls on Viber is exclusive to Nokia and unavailable on WP8.

I thought this could be the 7.8 update with the new live tile size, but it isnt. A shame because the code for the extra functionality is jsut 15 sentences long and easy to implement :( and i still see the old logo, is this a bug or does the wp7 version still has the old logo?

Was thinking the same, wish more would use it. The video chat is awesome.
Other features why its better:
1. Fast app resume
2. Quick and stable
3. Stickers (if you like that sort of thing)
4. Visually appealing interface
5. Cool social features like "Drift Bottle", "Moments"

One feature that whatsapp has that wechat doesn't have though is the message viewed indicator.

I tested those double ticks...It's actually just message sent and message received indicators. If your phone buzzes and gives you notification the other person recieves the second tick, not when you read it :(

- Still no ability to send MP3s
- Still no ability to send videos located on the device
- Still a battery hog.
- App crashes when changing display picture
- Have to unpin and repin the tile for it to show up properly.
I was looking forward to this update, thought this would support mp3 and video sending support, very disapointed. Still loads of work to do! Thanks for the update anyway Whatsapp Team!

1. No Support For Messages Longer that 10 parts i.e 1600+ chars
2. No Large Tile Support For 7.8
3. The Tile is still the same "Cartoony" on 7.8
4. No new Emoticons.
5. The Music Player Bug Still Exists (Seriously It's High Time They did Something about It!!!).

It seems to startup longer sometimes on my 920. At times it can be really quick taking 2 seconds, and the next time it may take around 8 seconds. Wish more people would use Line or Wechat as they are technically and visually much better apps.

Horrible update.
- No "fast resume"
- LONGER load times. The first load is quick. The subsequent load times are insanely long.
- Can't access "Media" section in "Info" of any chats. Just shows up with a blank scroll list. Old media is lost.

Daniel did say and i quote
"Did we miss any new features? Let us know in comments. You can download WhatsApp for free here in the Store. All Windows Phones supported. Thanks, Dennis and others for the tip! "
Great improvement!!!
load times, faster
nice layout and animations( font got smaller, more chats can be seen, list comes from the bottom now)
nice broadcast feature (mass messaging)
all i need now is the ability to send mp3 files...
come on Microsoft!!! make it happen!!! and whatsapp will update to suit
Ps. different colour chat bubbles for group messages, changing backgound wallpaper or even making background a solid colour, like the accent colour or black/white(but i think that works already).... *whisper* work on it plzzzzzzzz :
Smasung Focus Rocking WP7.8 :) Gotta love it

Am I the only one? I leave the phone (Lumia 920) come back, go to xBox/music, see the song I was paused on, press "paused" and woop... the phone takes me to "whatsApp", I press back and its like I just opened a new music player, the memory of the player is gone and I need to re-find my last song.

I was just clicking on whatsapp in the marketplace and i saw that i could install the update so i tipped wpcentral. I was glad i could help you tip this :)
But it is a shame it still uses the music stream api. I frikkin' hate it!